Soccer Football - AFC Asian Cup - Group B - Syria v Australia - Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar - January 18, 2024 Australia coach Graham Arnold reacts REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
DOHA (Reuters) - Australia may have the easiest Asian Cup last 16 game on paper when they take on Indonesia, who scraped through to the knockout stages, but coach Graham Arnold said on Saturday that the south-east Asian team would be a hard nut to crack.
Indonesia were the last team to qualify as one of the four best third-placed teams, moving into the knockout stage on three points to earn a match-up against Group B toppers Australia.
Indonesia are also the lowest-ranked team in the knockouts -- 121 rungs below their opponents -- but Arnold is wary of the fact that they have foreign-born players who were naturalised as the team qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time in 17 years.
"There are a lot of new faces in the Indonesian team and a lot of them foreigners, some Spaniards have played for them. But at the end of the day, that's how Asia is growing and the Asian tournament is getting harder and harder," Arnold said.
"Playing Indonesia is not a David v Goliath battle, it's two teams that will go out there and give it their best. They've shown in this competition so far how strong they are against Japan and Iraq, and obviously with their win over Vietnam.
"Mentality is the most important thing, the mindset and the Aussie DNA. The Aussie way is we fight till we drop."
Arnold's team did enough to reach the last 16 but questions remain over their lack of out and out goal scorers, which the 60-year-old put down to rebuilding the squad.
"That's down to the fact that we've moved on with players. We've only got 12 players here that were at the World Cup. Some retired, some are injured, some have moved on," Arnold said.
"You've got to regenerate the squad all the time otherwise nothing will change... You can't just sit still and think that players are always going to be there.
"Regenerating the squad is also important and bringing those kids in to give them an opportunity is crucial."
With extra-time and penalties potentially coming into play in the knockout stage, Australian forward Craig Goodwin said the squad have been practicing for such a scenario.
"I hope that it doesn't come to that point, but my advice to any player that's stepping up will be to go up there with confidence," he said.
"We have a lot of young players that have a lot of confidence and who do take penalties at their club as well. Penalties aren't for everyone and they're definitely a nervous thing to do, especially in a big game.
"But it's about having that thought process that you're going to be the one to score the goal to put the nation through rather than thinking that you're going to miss."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Doha; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
